End-to-End Electrical-Optical-Electrical Flow in Keysight ADS

Photonics components and optical fibers have become foundational to modern high-speed communication systems, driven by the rapid growth of big data, artificial intelligence, and cloud infrastructure. As bandwidth demands surge, traditional copper interconnects are increasingly unable to meet system requirements due to signal degradation, high power consumption, heat generation, and limited scalability. Optical communication, by contrast, enables significantly higher data rates, lower loss over long distances, and immunity to electromagnetic interference, making it the preferred solution for data centers, telecom networks, and emerging technologies.

Modern applications—including AI clusters, autonomous systems, and advanced sensing — rely heavily on photonics to deliver the performance required. However, every optical link ultimately interfaces with electrical components such as CPUs, GPUs, and high-speed SerDes lanes. This creates a critical need to understand and accurately model the complete Electrical-Optical-Electrical (EOE) signal chain, where electrical signals are converted to optical signals for transmission and then back to electrical signals at the receiver.

This application note presents a comprehensive approach to modeling the full EOE flow using Keysight Advanced Design System (ADS) with integrated photonic design capabilities. By leveraging a unified simulation environment, the study incorporates electrical transmitters, optical sources and modulators, Wavelength Division Multiplexing (WDM) components, fiber channels, photodetectors, Transimpedance Amplifiers (TIAs), and electrical receivers. A four-channel system is constructed to emulate a realistic multi-wavelength Ethernet link, allowing detailed analysis of signal propagation across both electrical and optical domains.

The results emphasize the importance of end-to-end co-simulation. Key performance metrics, including eye diagrams and waveform integrity, reveal how impairments originating in electrical components interact with optical distortions throughout the transmission chain. This holistic visibility enables engineers to identify bottlenecks, optimize system parameters, and ensure compliance with high-speed standards before physical implementation.

Furthermore, the methodology aligns with emerging research directions for next-generation communication systems such as 6G, where higher bandwidths, advanced modulation schemes, and new architectures will further increase system complexity. A flexible and accurate simulation framework is essential for early-stage validation and innovation.

By modeling the complete EOE flow within a single platform, engineers can significantly reduce development cycles, mitigate design risks, and achieve reliable, high-performance optical communication systems. This application note demonstrates how such an approach is essential for meeting the growing demands of modern data center, telecom, and future wireless infrastructures.